The Trouble with Atheists

-Let’s face it, these hidden laws [of mysticism] are hidden, but they are only hidden by [your] own ignorance. And the word mystical is just arrived at through people’s ignorance. There’s nothing mystical about it, only that you’re ignorant of what that entails.” ― George Harrison

The trouble with atheists is that they are fighting a battle with a delusion, which is not that surprising. Atheists pride themselves on being “not stupid,” after all, and they aren’t. Atheists can see the patent absurdity of God as a violent, abusive, and controlling patriarch, and they can see the ideological web of lies that go into its construction.[1] They know it is foolish to believe in such a farce, and so they don’t. They reject the absurdity and settle, most often, into a lifetime commitment to the Church of Secular Humanism, and then they die. And good for them (slow clap, clap). Secular Humanism is most certainly a step forward from the ideologically rooted dogma of church and temple. But, as a former atheist myself I would like, for the record, to say, that rejecting the nonsense of the Western Church is not the only step forward we need to take. Rejecting the ecclesiastical image of God, what I like to call “Church God”[2](i.e. a God as violent, abusive, authoritarian patriarch in the sky) frees you from the ideological clutches of the Church, but it doesn’t put you in contact with the full truth. Rejecting Church God is, I would say, only the first step out of the dark forest of the dark ages.

The billion dollar question at this point is, what’s the next step? Well, the next step is to realize that despite all the lies the Church has told, despite the presence of elite ideology and nefarious intent in the spirituality of this planet, humans are not, as the song says, merely dust in the wind. We are something more. Don’t believe me? I hate to drop names, but Einstein,[3] several famous physicists,[4] not a few psychologists, and a small handful of sociologists (Edward Carpenter, for example, Hermanns, and me)[5] have suspected (and even researched) this for quite some time. If you have only taken that first step, i.e. if you have only rejected the sanctimonious elite ideology of Church God, you might be surprised by this statement—but don’t be. Despite what polemicists like Dawkins[6] would have you believe, there has been a reasonable amount of reasonable scholarly interest in the “something more” of human spirituality.[7]

Of course, I understand that if you are an atheist you may have trouble with this. Strong feelings may be invoked in the hard atheist heart by suggestions that we take human spirituality seriously, or that some legitimate scientists have shown a genuine scholarly interest. I understand why you might have trouble because I was an atheist once as well, and so I know the drill.I know exactly why atheists reject the authenticity of human spirituality. They reject it for the same reasons I rejected it. They reject it because they think it is a stupid, false delusion.[8] And it is false, and arguably stupid, particularly the abusive patriarch part. But it is not all false, it is not all stupid, and it is certainly not all delusion. In fact, some of if it is darkly brilliant. If you ask me, Western exoteric and esoteric spirituality is a genius system of thought/behaviour control, put in place to, well, control the thought and behavior of the human masses. I got a glimpse of this brilliance when examining the Western Tarot deck which, as I demonstrated in an article entitled The Sociology of Tarot, is an ideological tool of the ruling class.[9] Indeed, as I research I find that Western ecclesiastical institutions, and perhaps Eastern “spiritual” institutions as well, are very clearly about behavioral control of the masses. But just because elite institutions are about social control, and just because some of the concepts they use to engage this control are silly ideologies, and wrong, doesn’t mean the whole of human spirituality is an elite bred superstitious farce. That is, what the elite priests and gurus have to offer is not the sum total of human spiritual experience. These are merely corruptions, interferences if you like, attacks if you will, on the authentic core of human spirituality. What you find in the elite funded nave of your organized ideological institutions of “faith” does not represent authentic spirituality any more than a horse drawn carriage represents a modern self-driving automobile. They represent elite interference in the connection process, bald face attempts to suppress the powerful and transformative spirituality of the human physical unit, or ridiculous (but effective, I’m afraid) attempts to scare the masses into submission, and nothing more.

Of course, if there is more to human spirituality than vapid superstition and elite machination, if there is an authentic core that is obscured by elite machination, what is that something more? What is the authentic core. The answer to that is remarkably easy to state, but difficult to understand and explain, especially to someone whose never had one. I can say that human spirituality, for example that authentic spirituality is about connecting to what I call The Fabric of Consciousness. I can say, and I have,[10] that spiritual practice is about suppressing the neurology of the brain (specifically the Default Mode Network, or bodily ego as I call it) long enough so that Consciousness can you descend into “the vessel,” i.e. the body. But to the uninitiated, i.e. the ones who have never had or (as is more likely) don’t remember a connection experience, these amount to little more than empty words. I can say that human spirituality is about connection, but the atheist, the uninitiated, the indoctrinated, struggle to understand and accept, not because there is anything inherently difficult or particularly heretical in the ideas themselves, but because, as I have already said, everybody, atheists included, are fighting a battle with a elite bred delusion. They equate the whole of human spirituality with the vapid and ideological Church God, and dismiss it as such, without any further consideration. However, as a former atheist who is now a mystic, I can tell you, Church God is a nonsense spiritual fiction. It is spiritual ideology pure and simple. I reject Church God as a valid and useful construct just as vehemently as I reject Capitalism as a sane and progressive economic system. As a mystic who is a former atheist I can tell you, I don’t want to have anything to do with Church God at all

But, as I’ve already said, the silliness of Church God and the ideological nature of ecclesiastical institutions does not necessarily invalidate other aspects of human spirituality. As someone who has explored the mystical hallways of Consciousness through connection I can tell you, there’s lots of authentic things to see and say, and lots of fascinating cupboards and closets to explore. For example, since I’ve been looking, I’ve noticed the powerful and potentially revolutionary potential of mystical experience,[11] and seen the extent to which political/economic elites will go to colonize our collective human spirituality.[12] I’ve gotten into the neurology of mystical connection[13] and even speculated about the nature of The Fabric (of Consciousness) to which we connect.[14] I would argue, based on the little bit of work that I’ve done, that there are some fruitful avenues of research, and valuable things to discover, when it comes to human spirituality.

Of course, I have to admit, as an atheist it wasn’t easy seeing beyond my illogical over generalizations, irrational assumptions, and dogmatic superstitions. It wasn’t easy admitting there was “something more” worth looking at. I was the worst of the worst of the atheists, arrogant, strident, and staunch. I used my presumed intellectual superiority to arrogantly bash the duped, deluded, and deceived believer wherever and whenever I could. It took a massive blow to my cherished materialist world view to open me up to the possibility that my atheist worldview was wrong, even naive. It took even more to get me to a point where I’d be willing to ask some honest questions and explore with open minded curiosity. That I’m talking to you now not as a religious man (i.e. someone who believes in Church God) but as an explorer (i.e. someone who believes there is something more, and wants to find out what that is) is a major personal/ideological breakthrough. I’m cautious about stating this because I know what the materialists and atheists will think, and I know what some will say. They will think I want to talk about Church God and they will, as Peter Berger once said, dismiss it is as stupid superstition beyond the pale of respectable parties. But what can I say but this: believe me when I say, I don’t want to talk about Church God because Church God is a nonsense fiction used to control the masses. I do, however, want to talk about mystical/religious experience because, as William Stace says,[15] mystical/religious experience is “a psychological fact of which there is abundant evidence…. To deny or doubt that it exists as a psychological fact is not a reputable opinion. It is ignorance and very stupid.”

[2] Church God is the image of God supplied not by mystics who have actually explored divine realities, but by paid employees of one of the biggest, and arguably the most evil, based on their history of violence, theft, and manipulation, corporations on this planet, the Catholic Church.

[3] William Hermanns, Einstein and the Poet (Boston: Branden Books, 1983). A.H. Maslow, The Farther Reaches of Human Nature (New York: Viking, 1971)., William James William James, The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study of Human Nature (New York: Penguin, 1982). Edward. Carpenter, The Art of Creation: Essays on the Self and Its Powers (London: Georbe Allen & Unwin, 1921).,

Written by Michael S.

Michael S. (Dr. S.) is a scientist, sociologist, author, mystic, and mystical poet whose interests are human psychology, human society, spirituality, consciousness, global pedagogy, and global transformation. He’s busy writing about a dozen books all of which are aimed at enlightening the people and transforming the planet in line with the purpose, and for the benefit of, all. Visit his academic profile or his academia.com website, read some of his scholarly papers, view his video Money Moksha, and read his economically enlightening book, Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy.

.

I believe that I have cosmic religious feelings. I never could grasp how one could satisfy these feelings by praying to limited objects. The tree outside is life, a statue is dead. The whole of nature is life, and life, as I observe it, rejects a God resembling man. I like to experience the universe as one harmonious whole. Every cell has life. Hermanns, W. (1983). Einstein and the Poet. Boston: Branden Books (p. 63).

Albert Einstein

Javascript is disabled

Javascript is disabled on your browser. Please enable it in order to use this form.

Loading

What is God?

Unlike what polemicists would have you believe, there are many different “images” of God, from a father in heaven to a depersonified Consciousness, human beliefs are many and varied. In the interests of expanding our understanding of these images, please take a moment to share with us your beliefs. Your response is anonymous and no information is recorded, save for the response itself. If your image of God is not represented below, use the “other” form at the bottom to enter your response.

I believe God is*

Choose all that apply

A Father/Patriarch

A Mother/Matriarch

Above/Beyond Gender

A fantasy/delusion

An authoritarian commander

The life in nature

Consciousness

Other (provide additional detail below)

Write here

By submitting this form, you hereby agree to accept our Terms & Conditions. Your IP address 162.158.78.143 will be stored in our database.

Your form has been submitted

Thank you for giving your answers

Server Side Error

We faced problems while connecting to the server or receiving data from the server. Please wait for a few seconds and try again.

If the problem persists, then check your internet connectivity. If all other sites open fine, then please contact the administrator of this website with the following information.

TextStatus: undefinedHTTP Error: undefined

Processing your request

Error

Some error has occured.

Written by Michael S.

Michael S. (Dr. S.) is a scientist, sociologist, author, mystic, and mystical poet whose interests are human psychology, human society, spirituality, consciousness, global pedagogy, and global transformation. He’s busy writing about a dozen books all of which are aimed at enlightening the people and transforming the planet in line with the purpose, and for the benefit of, all. Visit his academic profile or his academia.com website, read some of his scholarly papers, view his video Money Moksha, and read his economically enlightening book, Rocket Scientists’ Guide to Money and the Economy.

.

15 Comments

Franko
on December 26, 2016 at 9:08 am

C’mon daddy, try to make money by not making a fool of yourself. We are not stupid and aware of spiritual practices around the whole planet. Yes, very much indeed by discipline and enormous dedicadion you can establish more neural control over you body. Although, don’t confuse it with spirituality.

p.s. your termes like church god or constant references to western dominant religion looks silly for someone with a phd

See, this is exactly the judgmental, arrogant, strident dialogue that you get from atheists. You start your comment with an insult designed to paint me in a negative light. It is a childish and transparent rhetorical technique designed to make me appear illegitimate and to elevate your own self (though I think you succeed only in your own mind in this instance). It is exactly the issue I am addressing in this article, which is the difficulty of having open, frank, logical conversations with atheists because they get all arrogant and insulting and dismissive. Your comment is a pointed illustration, so thanks for that.

Anyway, despite your vague comment about the nature of human spirituality, I don’t think you have any real clue about human spirituality. You might know the practices, but your missing a substantive understanding of why the practices are engaged in, or what they are intended to achieve. I have a paper entitled The Science of Ascension which you might find interesting if you get get over your arrogant dogmatism long enough to open your mind a little bit.

As for “Church God,” I think that’s a great term. Most people when they hear the word God think of the bearded patriarch in the sky. I think most atheists do as well It is part of our cultural programming. Even now I think of Stephen Colbert. He does a regular skit on his show that pimps the “Church God” image.

I bet when I say “God” you think Church God.

For anybody else that wants to engage a discussion here, just to let you know, I will not approve insults from either side. You either find a polite and respectful way to communicate your thoughts, or don’t bother to post.

Oh, is that right. But any acceptance of spirituality that does not include some acceptance of God (whatever that is) is a cardboard spirituality. God is a central thing in human spirituality. If you reject God, you’re not spiritual. At the most your just play acting.

Or maybe I can just ask, what kind of spirituality is it that rejects God?

I think I know exactly what you’re talking about as I believe I have had some sort of mystical experiences before, which just created so much emotional resonance for me when I was reading this article. As a firm Atheist myself, I don’t buy the Church God and the whole religious system at all, to me, they are all just means of control, which is absurdly silly but effective to the mass. However, I do believe the existence of an ultimate spiritual entity inside me, which I regard as my own God, and sometimes I refer to it simply as, Destiny. I believe that everything that either happened, happening right now, or going to happen to me, no matter good or bad, is “right” for me – they all serve a purpose, which will eventually sent me on the right path, to the destination where my God think I belong. The day I found out that I am able to connect with my God, listen to his instructions and read his signs, I became more and more content with my life, and I can almost feel the true sense of happiness in my heart. I know my life is not going to be all well, but as long as I stay connected with my God, I will be blessed and get what I deserve to have. I still have lot more to say, but I think I already made my point. By the way, I’m a Chinese and sorry if my English is not competent enough to convey my feelings and thoughts. I would love to see more of your articles regarding this topic in the future, thank you!

You had “mystical experience.” You opened your eyes and realized that there was something in that experience much bigger than you realized. According to Abraham Maslow, this sort of mystical experience is very common.

This mystical experience led you towards happiness and contentment. Also, very common.

But then what did you do? Then, you got into bed with Christianity. How did that happen? Simple. You had an experience you couldn’t explain and you looked around for an explanation. Since science doesn’t bother with this sort of thing at all, you find nothing there. So, you cast about and fall upon the first explanation you can find, which is not surprising given your geolocation, a Christian one. “Your” idea that everything happens for a reason, your idea that if you listen to “his” instructions and read “his” mystical signs everything will be OK, is pure [Christian] spiritual ideology.

That’s remarkable, don’t you think? You disavow Christianity, but then you have an experience. Two shakes later, you find yourself right back in Church, kneeling in the same old pew. That’s pretty slick. If I was into conspiracy theories, I might even say you are the victim of a “trap” of sorts. To make a much longer story much too short, this trap, this ideology in sociological terms, this “spiritual spin machine,” takes a real and authentic experience and then explains it for you in a way that services the status quo.

This is exactly why we, and by we I mean sociologists in particular, have to be talking about this. There’s a subtle system of ideological control at work here of which we are not aware. We need to take a much closer look at this mystical experience, a much closer look at this “god” thing, because if we don’t, people looking for answers will inevitably and invariably be pulled back into misunderstanding and [Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, etc.) superstitions.

If you want to really figure this out, you have to cleanse yourself of that christian spiritual ideology (actually, you have to cleanse yourself of all spiritual ideologies, not just the Christian one) and start, with a clean slate, at the beginning.

Of course,your paper will be published on our Wechat-public-platform——it’s a Chinese Twitter like platform, I’ll reply to you when I publish your paper and show the link to you, thank you very much again！

I absolutely agree! This is one of the most greatest things I’ve ever read.
I am one of these guy (fortunetly I’m not alone) who thinks sipirituality is something very important to us as animals who can thinks and behave as we do.

You make some interesting and valid points. However, there are a few of us out there who don’t believe in a god of any sort, but do believe in reincarnation and the existence of a soul. I don’t condemn anyone for believing as they choose.

Hi Alex. YES! That’s what I’m saying. Many people believe in “something,” but not everybody, in fact fewer and fewer I think, believe in “Church/Father God.”

I, for example, believe in “Soul,” which I understand to mean Consciousness. By Consciousness, I simply mean awareness. The only “radical” thing here is I don’t believe Consciousness is rooted in the brain. I believe Consciousness to be independent of the “material” universe. Consciousness, in my view, precedes and is independent of physical creation. Consciousness is, in my view, God.

To the person reading this, share what you believe with me and I’ll construct a “survey of beliefs about God.” Answer the question

“I believe God is…”

Share in the comment section below. Note, your response will not be immediately posted (unless you are already preapproved for commenting). If you don’t want your response posted, or if you want it deleted after I see it, just make a note in your reply

I already have

I believe God is

a fantasy/delusion
a patriarchical figure
an authoritarian figure
Consciousness